Background

OB10, the global e-Invoicing network, delivers suppliers’ invoices directly to their customers’ finance system without intervention. The company has offices in London (UK), Atlanta (US), Kuala Lumpur (MA), and Sofia (BG).

The challenge

OB10 needed to provide easy and efficient access to company product, project, compliance and HR documentation for users across its offices. As a lot of OB10’s staff members are on the road delivering services to customers, a key requirement was to give them access to documentation from mobile devices.

In addition to enabling access to the latest documentation, OB10 needed older versions to be readily accessible to employees. As documents and files regularly require updating, there needed to be a mechanism in place to enable this to be done easily and efficiently.

Solution

OB10 deployed Alfresco in July 2012 and currently manages approximately 1,000 documents. The solution currently has 120 users and OB10 intends to increase the number to 300 by rolling it out to all staff members by May 2013.

Alfresco was selected for its ease-of-use functionality, accessibility from mobile devices, efficient management of permissions and responsibilities, daily updates on site activities, useful content functionality, positive support and flexibility. The user-friendly layout with dashboard and familiar folder structure for the storage library, and the addition of Alfresco Cloud were also attractive to OB10.

Conclusion

Ease of Implementation

“The implementation was quite smooth because Alfresco provides timely support and great documentation sources. The tool is very intuitive, so there was no need for training sessions across the company,” said Lyubov Skenderova, OB10 Product Manager, Internal Systems.

Enhanced Connectivity & Access

Since deploying Alfresco, OB10 has boosted connectivity within its global employee network. It is using multi-level access with sites organized around departments and managers assuming responsibility for granting access and keeping documentation up to date for their areas.

In terms of internal benefits, employees have ease of access to the latest documentation they require. Daily updates through Alfresco quickly inform users of any changes or updates to company policies, and help the governance team in meeting its audit requirements. Through this, all staff feel more connected and better informed of changes.

Alfresco also features visible metadata, such as information on the document creators and site managers’ details. This fulfils one of OB10’s main requirements.

Mobile Access

Accessibility and connectivity through mobile devices was another key goal. OB10 employees on the move can access any materials they need for client meetings quickly and easily. Quick access to any information customers request helps OB10 maintain its position as a leading and nimble player in the market .

What’s next?

Looking ahead, OB10 is eagerly anticipating the new enhancements on the Alfresco Cloud development roadmap. Chief among these are improved data protection measures in the cloud, better editing functionality, the introduction of permissions management on folders and documents, in addition to site levels, increased collaboration options and creator visibility on tasks.

OB10 is primarily using Alfresco for publishing and sharing rather than collaboration, with discussion on documents taking place outside the cloud before the final versions are uploaded. Once Alfresco’s collaboration function is enhanced, OB10 expects to make more use of it, publish more company documentation and allow teams to create their own sites for working on projects.

“We value [Alfresco’s] connectedness and availability very highly. In that sense, we see the return of the investment we make [in] Alfresco every time a user is able to access the document they need.”